Tunnel hull construction with pivoted planes



Oct.- 11, 1955 R. FASZCZUK 2,720,133

TUNNEL HULL CONSTRUCTION WITH PIVOTED PLANES Filed Jan. 14, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l ooycooo o o oooooo oo ooooooooood INVENTOR. .EOWZQ/Z [L7 c yw/,

Oct. 11, 1955 R. FASZCZUK 2,720,183

TUNNEL HULL CONSTRUCTION WITH PIVOTED PLANES Filed Jan. 14, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 g 5/ Z/ J .5. Z0

15 HF MM AZ Z6 Z7 Z6 Z9 Z5 Z7 Z5 E0 TINVENTOK/g m/Z a5 6 44' BY Z United States Patent TUNNEL HULL CONSTRUCTION WITH PIVOTED PLANES Roman Faszczuk, Chicago, 111.

Application January 14, 1952, Serial No. 266,275

2 Claims. (Cl. 114-126) The present invention relates to ships, and has for its main object the provision of a ship wherein the hull or the part of the ship submersible may be hollow, made of side walls, with the front and rear ends thereof open for the purpose of receiving water, so that when the ship moves the water flows into the hull from the open end thereof toward the rear and through the rear open end thereof. The object of such a construction is two-fold, namely to stabilize the ship by virtue of the kinetic action of water upon the ship due to the ships movement therethrough, and secondly to reduce the resistance of water upon the ship, and thereby to increase the ships speed.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a plurality of horizontal planes within the space defined by the hulls walls, which planes may be adjustable angularly and in a longitudinal relation with the ship for the purpose of steering the ship vertically for causing the ship to shift vertically, which facility may be desirable for counteracting the forces of, the waves, to the end that the ship may be stabilized.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a plurality of propellers within the hull of the ship, and preferably below the said planes, not only for propelling the ship through water, but also for speeding up the flow of water through the hull space, thereby increasing the kinetic force of water upon the ship for increasing the stability of the latter.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a cargo-receiving superstructure over the hull part of the ship, so that said superstructure would not become submerged in water in order to enhance the movement of the ship in water.

Another object of the present invention is to generally improve the structure of the ship to the end that the same may not only be greatly stabilized while in water but also that its propulsion in water may be enhanced.

With the above general objects in view and others that will appear as the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this application, and in which like designating characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a ship constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan elevational view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view thereof, on a reduced scale; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse cross sectional view, taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the present drawings there is shown therein a hull, best shown in Fig. 4, which includes a pair of walls 10, on each side of the ship. The lower ends of said walls are rigidly aihxed to keel 11, from which the two pairs of said walls 10 upwardly extend substantially at an acute angle. The front ends of ice each pair of said walls 10 on each side of the ship are connected by angular walls 12 which facilitate cutting of water by the hull walls during the propulsion of the ship. The rear ends of each pair of said walls 10 are similarly sealed. Each pair of said walls is divided by a plurality of horizontal floors or decks 13 for the purpose of defining a plurality of compartments 14 within which cargo may be stored. Access to said compartments 14 may be had through deck 15, which constitutes a dividing plane between the hull part of the ship and the superstructure 16 built above said hull and said deck 15.

The outer walls 10 extend upwardly along the sides of said superstructure 16. The outer walls of said superstructure 16, and along each side, are provided with a plurality of port holes 17, constituting windows for a plurality of passenger cabins in said superstructure 16. Encircling the superstructure and above the water line of the hull, and on line with deck 15, is outer deck 18 constituting a promenade for passengers. The side portions of said deck 18 may be supported by flare wall 19 extending from the outer hull walls 10, while the bow and rear portions thereof may be directly aflixed and joined to said superstructure 16.

In addition to the means for propelling the ship in water, which will be hereinafter described, the bow portion of superstructure 16 is provided with a plurality of cowlings 20 through which propeller supporting shafts extend for supporting propellers 21, which are adapted to whirl through the air. The mechanism for driving said propellers 21 and their shafts may be positioned within superstructure 16.

From the hereinabove description it will be seen that the inner hull walls 10, in conjunction with deck 15 define a tunnel in a longitudinal relation with the ship through which water may flow from the front opening of .the hull toward the rear opening thereof as the ship is propelled in water. When heavy waves are encountered it may be advisable to direct the ship deeper into the water so that the ship may be capable of more ready cutting of the waves. For this purpose suitable planes 22 are provided within the tunnel defined by the hull at a level below and spaced from the top of the tunnel. These planes 22, of which there may be two or more, are arranged within the tunnel on the same horizontal plane and in a mutually spaced relation, as is clearly indicated in Fig. 1, with one of the planes being located near the front of the ship and another being located near the rear of the ship. Each of said planes 22 is rigidly affixed upon shaft 23 passing centrally of each plane 22, and in a transverse relation with the hull of the ship. The ends of said shafts 23 are pivoted within the inner walls 10 of the hull. One end of each shaft 23 is provided with a sprocket wheel, which is engaged by sprocket chain 24, and through a series of sprocket wheels and sprocket chains 25, the uppermost of the latter reaching superstructure 16 where a suitable power is imparted thereto for turning shaft 23 to one or the opposite direction, all as is clearly seen in Fig. 4. By virtue of this arrangement said planes 22 may be tilted to one or the opposite direction thereby causing the hull to emerge or sink deeper in the water or the waves, depending whether said planes 22 by their front edges turned upwardly or downwardly, respectively. Maintaining said planes 22 in a horizontal position, Will maintain the ship on an even keel.

Disposed within the said tunnel, below said planes 22, and extending from the inner walls 10 of the hull, is a plurality of cowlings 26 for supporting a plurality of propellers 27 for forcing the flow of water into the said tunnel through the front opening of the hull and expelling the water through the rear opening thereof. Aside from the function of said planes 22, the stream of water of a comparatively large volume quickly moving through the hull tunnel exerts a kinetic force upon the ship for maintaining the latter upon an even keel. It is only when the waves are unusually high that it is at all advisable to angularly shift planes 22. Medium waves will not be strong enough .to overcome the said kinetic force and hence .said planes 22 need not be turned from their normally horizontal position.

A plurality of similar cowlings 28 are arranged in rows on the outside walls '10 of the hull, for supporting a plurality of propellers 29. These latter propellers add to the propelling capacity of the ship.

Any suitable mechanism for operating propellers 2'7 and 29 may be positioned within any one or more of adjacent compartments 14 of the hull. Of course, the mechanism for operating said propellers need not necessarily operate on all .of said propellers simultaneously. Obviously, if propellers 29 on one side of the hull are caused to operate, while the propellers 29 on the opposite side of the hull are idle, this will constitute means for readily turning the ship. When speed is to be decreased it may be advisable to operate fewer than the whole number of said propellers 27 and 29.

Rearwardly of the ship, above planes 22 is a transverse bar or plank 30 rigidly connecting by its ends the two inner side walls of the hull.

The rear end of keel 11 has extension 31. Supported upon said extension 31 and said plank 30, for pivotal movement, is rear rudder 32.

Hingedly connected to said keel 11 at a point of juncture of the pair of outer hull walls 10 therewith, is a pair or more of downwardly depending fins 33.

Compartments 14 may be loaded either from deck 18 or from superstructure 16.

It is further noted that the angularly shifting one or both planes 22 and maintaining the same at shifted position will regulate the draft of the ship. When the hull compartments 14 are empty it might be desirable to angularly shift at least the front plane 22 with its front edge disposed in a downward direction so that the hull may take deeper water.

From the disclosure herein it also will be apparent that the ship of the proposed construction will have inherent qualities of being unsinkable when hit by a torpedo or a mine. This is due to the fact that the several compartments 14, when divided vertically by bulkheads, will define a plurality of pockets or cells, which, even though severely damaged or even completely destroyed, will not affect other undamaged cells, which will be sufficient for maintaining considerable degree of buoyancy for holding the ship upon the surface of water.

While there 'is described herein preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim as new is:

1. In a ship, a pair of side hull walls, a superstructure supported by said side hull Walls, the front and rear ends, of the hull being open, said side hull walls and said superstructure defining a tunnel whereby water entering the front open end of the hull may flow lengthwise of said tunnel and be exhausted through the rear open end of the hull as the ship moves for stabilizing the ship, a first plane pivoted upon said side hull walls within said tunnel for angular movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said tunnel near the front end of the ship, a second plane pivoted upon said side hull walls within said tunnel for angular movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said tunnel near the rear end of the ship, each of said planes being positioned below and spaced from the top of said tunnel so that water may flow along both of its faces, means for angularly shifting said planes for regulating the draft of the ship, and ship propelling means carried by said hull Walls in said tunnel below said planes.

2. In a ship, a keel, a pair of outer side walls extending upwardly at an acute angle from said keel, a pair of inner side walls extending upwardly at an acute angle from said keel, said outer walls being in .a spaced relation with said inner walls for defining storage compartments, a superstructure supported by said walls, said side walls defining the hull of the ship, the front and the rear ends of the hull being open, said inner side walls and said superstructure defining a tunnel whereby water entering the front open end of the hull may flow lengthwise of said tunnel and be exhausted through the rear open end of the hull as the ship moves for stabilizing the ship, an extension projecting rearwardly from said keel, a horizontal plank connected to said inner side walls adjacent the rear ends thereof, a rudder supported for angular movement upon said extension and .said .plank, a first plane pivoted upon said side hull walls within said tunnel for angular movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said tunnel near'the front end of the ship, a second plane pivoted upon said side hull walls within said tunnel for angular movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said tunnel near the rear end of the ship, each of said planes being positioned below and spaced from the top of said tunnel so that water may flow along both of its faces, means for angularly shifting said planes for regulating the draft of the ship, and at least one propeller supported upon each of said inner side Walls within said tunnel below said planes for propelling the ship.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 39,394 Harris Aug. 4, 1863 106,824 Howard et al Aug. 30, 1870 321,569 Belus July 7, 1885 367,771 Witmer Aug. 2, 1887 906,901 Lane .et a1. ,r Dec. 15, 1908 995,559 Pfautz June 20, 1911 1,475,460 Thompson et a1. Nov. 27, 1923 2,040,984 Francesco etal May 19, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 365,946 Germany Dec. 27, 1922 

